Rayman Origins is the next free "Ubi 30" game

Rayman Origins is the third of seven games which Ubisoft is giving away to mark its 30th anniversary.

Back in June, Ubisoft announced that it would give away a free game every month for the rest of the year as part of its celebration of 30 years in the business. First up was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and then in July we got the stealth classic Splinter Cell. For August, Ubi is taking things in a slightly different direction.

“We could not celebrate Ubisoft 30th anniversary without talking about Rayman. Created in 1995 by Michel Ancel, Rayman is one of the few platforming characters that has been created at the 32-bit era that is still alive today,” Ubisoft wrote in the blurb accompanying the freebie. “Rayman 1 was released on Atari Jaguar and is today the Ubisoft game that has traveled across the most different platforms.”

The writeup also includes an interesting bit of trivia: Rayman was designed without arms and legs for the simple reason that arms and legs are really hard to animate. Being limbless gives Rayman “more speed and dynamism,” and it also enables many of his abilities, like the throwing fist and the car shoe.

Rayman Origins, the actual free game in question, is a “back to the root 2D platformer” that was originally released in 2011. And it's really good, too: “A beautifully animated, brilliantly scored, exquisitely judged platformer,” as we said in our review. You can't get much better than that.

Rayman Origins isn't actually free yet: Despite being the game-of-the-month for July, Splinter Cell reamins on the table for now. The Ubi 30 giveaway page says Rayman Origins will take its place in mid-August.

Update: There actually is a firm freebie date, not on the Ubi 30 page but on Twitter: Rayman Origins will go free on August 17.

Andy covers the day-to-day happenings in the big, wide world of PC gaming—the stuff we call "news." In his off hours, he wishes he had time to play the 80-hour RPGs and immersive sims he used to love so much.